december 2016

Goodbye December. And goodbye 2016. But hello New Years Eve night out... *trots off in heels with a glass of fizz*

party time

I found these pandas today. I'd forgotten about them. They were on a pile. A big pile.
I like it when I have time to do my own stuff as well as client work. Hasn't happened enough recently.
Anyway....enough of the drawing for drawing's sake, I have a party to attend tonight.... followed by a night out with the girls tomorrow.... followed by a day of liver recovery before New Year's Eve on Saturday.
I love school holidays me!

dvd duvet day

I had a dvd-duvet-day today. Without the dvd. It was awesome. I didn't even get dressed! I've never had one before. No wonder people show off about them on Facebook. Beats making polite conversation with extended family members whilst eating turkey curry and vol-au-vents on Boxing Day :)

merry christmas!

I did a late night trolley dash round M&S last night for Christmas dinner. Not too busy at all and generally a very pleasant shopping experience. If you don't count the fact that half the shelves had been emptied by the 250,000 stampeding nutters who went in the afternoon and grabbed what they could. Anyway I got most of what I needed. There'll be no RedCabbageBraisedWithBramleyApplesAndRedcurrantJelly this year. But we'll manage.

I was so relaxed after my shop that I called in at Ikea for new serving bowls. And left with a new pot for all my pens, new wine glasses, tealights, gift tags, teatowels, bowls, six new cushion covers and six cushions to stuff them with... a job well done.

So we're all set now.

Have a lovely Christmas people xx

no snow

Ok...can it snow now please....thanks x

winter solstice

Yay! It's the shortest day! Summer is on it's way after today. Woohoo!
Although I have to say that winter isn't quite so crap when your alarm doesn't go off in the middle of the night. I'm loving school holidays these days. I used to snarl at people who looked forward to the break because for me it always meant squeezing the same amount of work into fewer hours. Now my kids aren't interested in me any more - apart from to provide meals and taxi services - I have loads more time on my hands. And they sleep in. Till really late. So I can too. AND I've decided not to work this week. What's the point in being self employed if you can't have the week off! So I'm feeling very organised and festive and totally smug. Apologies to those of you not so fortunate....it will happen one day, I promise x

christmas jumper day

Christmas jumpers in my wardrobe are strictly plain black and of high quality. Lucky I don't work in a public place then. I would stand out like a sore thumb today.

maxing out on seasonal affective disorder

Today is the last day of school this year for the little one. So we worked it out as we walked across the more this morning IN THE DARK that this was the darkest school run of the winter and it's all going in the right direction from now on. Thank god for that!
I remember that I hate January every year but I forgot that December is pretty grim too. It's disguised a bit because of all the festivities. And then the school hols start so I don't have to get up so early...which is a bonus. But it's still bloody dark and grey and damp all the time.
We actually only get 20 minutes more daylight than the hygged up folks in Denmark. Without the candles, pastries and shorter working hours. And snow. Without the snow. The snow makes everything brighter doesn't it? No wonder I'm fed up!
I googled S.A.D and I have all the symptoms. The treatments are apparently: drugs and CBT, (a bit drastic) exercise in daylight (fat chance of that..it's dark on my dog walk and I don't have another time slot) and light therapy (which they say is not actually proven to work)
They don't mention the obvious treatment. Buy a second home in a sunny country and live there for 3 months. That's what I plan to do when my school days are over. Five. More. Winters.

christmas christmas christmas

My sister and her family are buggering off to Florida on Friday for Christmas and New Year. So we all had Christmas dinner today at my Mum and Dad's. 

And I trimmed the tree before we went. And last night we had our girls Christmas night out on the razz. AND I started (and almost finished) my Christmas shopping this week too. 

So Christmas Christmas Christmas it is. Which is fine. Cos it's December. Not September. Being festive is like totally ok in December. 

it's beginning to look less like Autumn

If I'd have had time to have a moan on here in the last couple of weeks I would have been banging on about what has been the most annoying 'thing' ever on facebook... The photos of a newly erected Christmas tree, complete with tasteful (or otherwise) (mostly otherwise) decoration and the most irritating of phrases: "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" 
The ones doing this at the end of November needed a punch in the nose. It wasn't beginning to look a lot like Christmas, it was still looking very much like Autumn and they needed to shut up and find something interesting to do with their lives!

Anyway. I didn't have time to have a moan. I didn't even have time to have a wee most days. And now it's only 2 weeks away it IS beginning to look a lot like Christmas and it's too late for a rant.
So...
As you were.

november 2016

So that was November.
And now.... on to December. 
If you're looking for the annual advent countdown I'm afraid it's not happening this year. I just can't fit it in. I've got so much work booked in for December already and I haven't even started to think about Christmas pressies and stuff. I'm gonna give myself a nervous breakdown if I have to commit to anything else. 
Plus I do think the whole advent thing has been done to death now. When Lizzie made me do it in 2012 no-one else seemed to do it. Now everyone and their dog has a go. It's like bloody #inktober.

I have to say we're also a bit sick of people nicking the designs too. The Dotty Wren advents that we've done have been used on loads of stuff. I think people think they're some sort of free download to use on their products as they wish. We don't get too arsey about people printing them out and using them for their own kids advents. That's quite cute. But we do draw the line at the companies who blatantly rip them off and use them in their Christmas ranges. Which has happened. A lot. 
So it's an advent free zone round here I'm afraid. Those big corporations will have to find someone else's artwork to steal this year. 
Ho ho ho. 🎅🏼